A Concluding Note from the Founder & President of ENABLE, Phillip C. Clark

We Know You Don’t Want to Plan. Nobody Does.

Now that you’ve read this guide, you should have a better understanding of the five essential areas of special needs. Creating a comprehensive plan that addresses all of these areas will enable you, your family, and your loved one with special needs to live a GREAT life today – and every day in the future!

But just because you now know HOW TO plan, doesn’t mean you necessarily WANT TO dedicate the time and effort it takes to plan well. Am I right?

At ENABLE, we know that nobody wakes up in the morning excited to plan.

Yet, every day, some families do decide to create a plan for their family and their child.

And here’s their secret:

Every family that decides to go through our planning process, has one thing in common. And it’s not that they are excited about the time and effort they know it will take to complete a plan. We have found that when a family decides to plan, it is because of two main intentions they have in their life:

They want to be great providers for their family – for their spouse, children, and loved one with special needs!

They want to be able to give their family every opportunity for success—including their loved one with special needs!

These are awesome goals and we’re thrilled to help families make progress toward them through their planning journey. At the end of the day, we don’t help families create special needs plans simply for the sake of creating a plan. We help families plan so that they can accomplish their main intentions in life – providing for their families’ needs and giving them every opportunity for success!

What about you? What are your main intentions in life? What do you want to BE for your family?

Achieving this goal(s) is WHY you need to plan.

You Need To Plan NOW

I’m going to be honest with you, I know you’re probably thinking one of the following two things right now:

My child with special needs is very young. I have time to think about this in the future. I’ll plan later.OR

I’m so busy fulfilling all of my daily tasks to ensure that my child with special needs and my family can survive. I don’t have time to think about this now. I’ll plan later.

The main problem with both of those mindsets, is that, while we all hope we are blessed with a long, healthy life – no one is guaranteed tomorrow.

The thing I hate most about helping families plan is when I meet a family who needs a plan, but it’s too late for them due to various life events that have already occurred (e.g., the parent(s) has already passed away, the parent(s) has a medical condition that prevents them from adequately planning, the parent(s) has lost a job or experienced another negative situation that prevents them from planning as well as they might’ve hoped).

I know when a family approaches me and they’re facing one of those situations. I see it in their eyes immediately. The look of regret. They always confirm my suspicions by stating, “We wish we would’ve started planning sooner. If we had, maybe we wouldn’t be facing such an impossible situation now.”

Don’t get me wrong. Often, our team at ENABLE can still do some things to help these families, regardless of their current situation. But, had they taken the time and put in the effort to create a plan for their child and their family earlier in life, the planning process could’ve been SO MUCH EASIER. And the outcome of their planning could’ve made every member of their family’s life SO MUCH BETTER.

All those years they spent without a plan, they could’ve felt secure – knowing that their life and future WAS secure.

Don’t wait until it’s too late for you and your family to make the decisions you know you need to make to ensure that your entire family – including your loved one with special needs – can live a safe, healthy, happy life today, tomorrow, and every day in the future, regardless of what happens.

Working with ENABLE Makes Planning Easier and Less Time Consuming

In the last chapter of this guide, we gave you a lot of information and details about the ENABLE 5-Step Planning System and what it would look like to work collaboratively with our team to create a plan for your family and loved one with special needs. Our process allows families to complete all five areas of planning – in 90 days or less.

There are so many resources out there that can help you with your planning. There are many financial, legal, and other advisors you could reach out to for assistance.

What we do differently at ENABLE, is bring all of the pieces of planning together under one roof. We’ve taken the guesswork out of your planning journey by creating a process and system that guides you – step-by-step – through all the essential areas of special needs planning.

You don’t have to waste time Googling a million different details to make sure you’ve adequately planned for your child’s financial future, that you understand and are appropriately utilizing government benefits, that your special needs trust is worded exactly right. You don’t have to worry about whether you have a clear vision for your child’s future and whether your family members understand and are ready to assist you with achieving your vision. You don’t have to wrack your brain trying to record every essential detail about your child the next time a babysitter comes over.

Your planning journey – today and in the future – doesn’t have to be overwhelming, frustrating, or confusing. We created our planning process and system especially for you – to make your life easier and more peaceful.

Let’s Chat

I’d love to hear your family’s story and learn more about your loved one with special needs!

Feel free to reach out to me personally (pclark@ENABLEsnp.com) if you’d like to schedule a time to speak via phone.